Types of Wedding Coordination (And Which One Is Right for You) with Elena Markwood
What’s the difference between having a venue coordinator and hiring a wedding coordinator? More than you might think.
Elena Markwood of Adoration Weddings joins us to break down the different types of coordination support available to engaged couples—and why “day-of coordination” is often a myth.
With over 100 weddings under her belt, Elena brings a detail-driven approach and a passion for personalized service that helps couples actually enjoy their wedding day. In this episode, she shares why so many couples are surprised to learn their venue doesn’t provide the hands-on support they assumed, and what to ask to avoid day-of disasters.
We talk through the various levels of planning and coordination support, when to hire a pro, and how to make sure your wedding runs smoothly—without your mom pinning boutonnieres or your bestie chasing down a lost seating chart.
From timelines and vendor communication to emergency kits and last-minute slideshow drama, Elena explains how a great coordinator does more than just show up on the big day—they make sure the couple, their families, and their friends get to soak in every moment.
Highlights:
- Why “day-of” coordination doesn’t really exist
- Common misunderstandings about venue-provided coordination
- The real differences between planning, coordination, and design
- What questions to ask when interviewing coordinators
- How a strong vendor timeline avoids the dreaded “battle of the timelines”
- The wildest last-minute surprise Elena ever had to solve (spoiler: it involves a ladder and Walmart)
- Planning your wedding without a coordinator? This episode might change your mind.
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Transcript
Alright folks, welcome to another episode of now that I'm engaged how do I get married? We have a Elena with us from our line of Markwood of adoration weddings and events did I get it right. Alright, perfect, so she's here to talk about the different types of coordination for engaged couples. So tell and before we get going any further, I'm going to say August is out sick today, so you're just sorry guys, you're stuck with me and and Elena. So we're good. We got the expert with us, but.
Elena Markwood (:Yes.
Kevin Dennis (:So tell us a little bit about your company, how you got started and how we got here today.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, absolutely. So my journey into the wedding industry was a little bit of a convoluted one. My major in college was actually musical theater. ⁓ So yeah, so I actually didn't start out in events at all.
Kevin Dennis (:No!
Elena Markwood (:Coming out of college, my first job was arts administration. So just like the nonprofit arts world. And in that job, I actually had a very large event planning type role. It was actually with the Columbus Symphony here in Columbus, Ohio. I was working on the Picnic with the Pops concerts, which are these huge outdoor summer concerts.
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
It sounds like fun.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, yeah, they're so fun. And it gave me that first taste of what it's like to coordinate all of these logistics and just like bring these huge scale events together that people really get to enjoy. I planned my own wedding twice. Shout out COVID. So no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm a 2020 bride. So yeah, we got
Kevin Dennis (:I was like wait, wait, wait two different guys same same say
Okay, I get it, I get
it.
Elena Markwood (:Yep, yeah, I feel so deeply for all the other COVID brides out there. I know what it's like. I went through it too. We got married on the date that we were planning to get married on, which was May 29th, 2020. It's actually our fifth anniversary is coming up. And it was just immediate family in my husband's grandparents backyard. And then we had a reception on our first anniversary at the venue where we were supposed to get married. So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm. A lot of people did that. Yeah, that was,
Elena Markwood (:So that sort of gave me an outlet for, you know, my super detail oriented planning list loving side of my brain and the creative, you know, emotional, just loving to bring people together and celebrate things side of my brain. Like the combination of those two things felt really, really good and it felt like a great fit.
So when I ultimately ended up leaving that arts administration job and kind of wanting to try something different, that led me into the wedding space. And I started out at a venue, got a ton of experience there, got the opportunity to learn a lot really fast, and then ultimately just had a heart for...
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:getting to control how much I was working a little bit more, having a longer lasting relationship with the client, a little bit more design control over the event, ⁓ and all of that is what led me to start Adoration.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
That sounds a lot a lot of fun alright, so we're here to talk about winning coordination today And I'm really excited to kind of like have you just break it down for a listener so like There's planner coordinator. There's all these different words that are used Some people think they equal the same thing ⁓ can you just kind of break it down for us and kind of? Give us the the lingo the terminology and help them break it down
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, absolutely. So I think one of the biggest points of confusion for a lot of couples is when you have someone who represents your venue.
The role could be venue manager, it could be venue coordinator. Sometimes the couple's only working with a sales manager and they don't even really have like someone in a coordinator role that comes from the venue. I think in a lot of cases, if that is the person that couples are having planning meetings with at their venue, they assume they are covered on whatever level of day of support they might need.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:And that's not always the case. I find that a lot of couples, like a lot of my month of coordination clients will be reaching out to me, you know, two to three months before the wedding because they've just discovered that their venue is not going to offer them.
the day of support that they really need. Now, are there venues that have a much more hands-on relationship with the couple and offer all of that day of support? Absolutely. But I think it is important to have a really candid conversation with whoever your contact person is at your venue to make sure that you understand exactly what's being covered and what might need outside support. So just some of the things that...
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:that venue coordinator person might not be covering things like setup and tear down of your personal decor. A lot of the time they only touch what is directly owned or rented by them. So they'll usually set up tables and chairs in a lot of cases. If linen rentals come through the venue, they'll set those up for you. But they typically don't have the capacity on wedding day to do favors and place cards and signage and
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:All of the other smaller pieces of personal decor that a couple might bring in. In a lot of cases, a venue coordinator is not going to be lining you up and sending you for your processional. In a lot of cases, they're not responsible for keeping your timeline on track throughout the course of the night, checking in with all the rest of the vendors to make sure that their timeline is on track, know, keeping reception events flowing, just lots of...
those little pieces that you want to make sure you have coverage for and also that it doesn't end up being you know your mom or your maid of honor or any of those other people who should have the opportunity to relax and enjoy the day with the couple.
Kevin Dennis (:Nyeh.
Yeah, sometimes I always think it's it's whoever got married last that's in the bridal party thinks though They're the wedding coordinator. So it yes, and I I hear this a lot at weddings Well at my wedding at my wedding and I always let I love that. I love to go Well, this isn't your wedding. This is what they yeah. Yeah, this is what they want. So All right Yeah, yeah. All right. So what different types of coordination can a couple expect to offer when considering hiring a wedding plan?
Elena Markwood (:yes. Yeah.
Right. ⁓
Exactly! Yeah. Yeah. You had your day. Yeah.
Yeah, so I get a lot of inquiries from couples that are looking for day of coordination. And I think that that can be a little bit of a confusing term, just because I think when couples ask for day of coordination, what they're really thinking is, I need someone who is going to run my day so I can not worry about the decor, the timeline, the lining up and sending for the processional, like all the things I just mentioned, right?
Kevin Dennis (:Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:But I think the way a lot of wedding pros feel about that day of coordination is that in order to smoothly run the day and make sure that everything is being executed properly, and really a big part of it for me is building the timelines. That's something that I include in month of coordination because I think it's such a crucial piece of the puzzle to make sure that all the vendors are on the same page and actually working off of the same documents.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:⁓ I
saw weddings when I was at a venue that, you know,
the DJ and the photographer have each created their own timeline. And if you don't have someone who has been in communication with the entire vendor team to bring together the photographer's needs and the DJ's needs into a master timeline that everyone's looking at, then those two vendors and whoever else has made their own version of the timeline, they're all coming into the day with different expectations. it is.
Kevin Dennis (:It's battle of the timelines. Everyone's going to fight it out.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, exactly.
And the coordinator can only do so much to effectively and efficiently run that day smoothly if different vendors have different expectations of how it's going to go.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:So my feeling about day of versus month of, and I think a lot of pros kind of have similar feelings about it, is the weeks of lead up time are so crucial for me to be able to make sure that those timelines are clean, make sure that expectations are clear for me on the day of, so I know exactly how much decor is there gonna be to set up. Do I just need one assistant or should I bring an extra?
⁓ And also just to establish your relationship with the couple. Like I don't want to come into a wedding day completely cold not knowing who my couple is. I'd rather have a sense of their personalities, their priorities, what's important to them on the day. What moments do they really want to make sure that they prioritize getting to experience? And just calm their fears about anything they're worried about, know, stressful family situations or
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:moments that they want to make sure they get or just anything they're worried that won't be covered those conversations leading up to the wedding give them a lot of comfort and me a lot of clarity about what to expect and how to run the day well
Kevin Dennis (:Interesting and so it so day of is bad is I guess we're going to establish that right now it just because you can't you can't walk in on the day of and just make someone's event go it just you know it just in to the level of comfort and you know execution that that a wedding, you know details need and deserve so so month of is better obviously now and then is is there other packages like full service or.
Elena Markwood (:Right.
Kevin Dennis (:design any other things. Okay.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, yeah,
so for me...
I've really just focused on a full service planning and design package and then a month of coordination package. So it's kind of one or the other. I try to make it very clear in my contract terms and obviously every vendor is going to have a different idea of how they want to structure their packages. But for me, I try to make it very clear that coordination doesn't include any planning support. So I consider that to be things like vendor sourcing, budget management, design consultation, helping pick a napkin color.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:⁓ you know, do you have any recommendations for beauty pros? Those kinds of conversations I really try to reserve for planning clients. because I consider that work to be more in the, like, I'm creating this event as opposed to I'm entering the process to run an event that you have already created. ⁓ so coordination for me is really just gathering the details, having
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Bye
Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:contact lists for family and vendors so that if there's anybody I need to reach out to on the day of I have easy access to them. Establishing relationships with the vendors, running the ceremony rehearsal, and then running the day. Full service planning is obviously much more involved because at whatever point in the process the couple brings me in then I'm taking over.
right away and if we need to find a venue, obviously that's step number one and then you jump into design, you jump into colors, tablescapes, florals, linens. So it is significantly more involved and I think there is a client for whom a planner doesn't necessarily make sense, but I think a coordinator always makes sense. ⁓ Just be, yeah, you know.
Kevin Dennis (:No, that's I like that. That's a good quote.
Elena Markwood (:I think just regardless of, budgetary concerns are different for every couple and it's crazy out there. Like what weddings are costing. I'm so grateful I got married five years ago. know, like I couldn't afford to have a wedding right now. So like I get how wild it is out there, but at the same time, you know.
The couple's memories are valuable and their family's memories are valuable. And I can't tell you how many consultation calls I've had where mom has sat in on the consultation and has said, I tried to be the coordinator for my older daughter's wedding and I'm not doing it again.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm. I like that so so. Just talking about the full service part of it. When like do you typical time that you usually see clients engage for you? Is there like a time where like is it the venue they're out searching for venues and realize wow, this is more than what we can handle or is there a different part of that process when they start engaging with you realizing they need help?
Elena Markwood (:I think on the full service planning side, a lot of couples go into the process already knowing that they're planning to hire a planner. Yeah, I think so. think if the budget is higher, you know, I'm in a wedding market where there is a high end sector and there is a lower budget sector and there's nothing wrong with either one. But I think that there's plenty of couples that fit into both categories.
Kevin Dennis (:really? Okay.
Mm-mm.
Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:⁓
And you know, there's a middle ground, but I think the couples that have a higher budget that want a more produced event or especially if it's a private residence, we're gonna have to talk about renting everything in. That's always gonna be a huge factor where you're gonna need a planner to navigate all of those logistics as well. So really it's anywhere from,
Kevin Dennis (:⁓
Elena Markwood (:I have one coming up this summer that actually we started at nine months prior, ⁓ which made me sweat a little bit, but the couple's amazing and it's all coming together, but anywhere from like two years out, a year and a half out. And sometimes they'll come in already with a venue booked and they'll...
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:then be able to include that in design conversations in consultations and in initial meetings like, hey, this is where we're getting married. This is what we want it to look like. Like our style has been informed by the venue or we already knew we wanted this venue. So we booked it right away. Or it could be we have nothing done. We need you to start right away.
Kevin Dennis (:We're procrastinators help us Get us going so you mentioned real quick is you just I'm gonna go off on a tangent But you mentioned homes or having it like having a wedding at a place that doesn't typically host weddings Tell me like that's you definitely need a coordinator for that Yeah, like if you try to do that on your own, I think you're gonna be in the weeds
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Mm-hmm.
Yes. Yeah.
argue honestly that a planner is necessary for that type of wedding because, you know, it's the, and I think a lot of brides, lot of couples who were affected by COVID had this realization that you expect like a backyard wedding to be so much more affordable.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Elena Markwood (:But then by the time you rent everything in it's not so you know just for the nature of Having to manage all of these structural rentals, you know, whether it's flooring tenting bringing in a lighting professional worrying about
Kevin Dennis (:It's not.
Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:Portable restrooms, insect control, where is the caterer gonna work out of? Do we have to like build a kitchen in a tent? ⁓ There's a lot of considerations that wouldn't be obvious to a couple that has never tried to turn a home into a wedding site before.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's we had a beautiful it was gorgeous wedding these people had the most beautiful backyard last summer and We're over there in our Company does a lot of lighting decor, you know that kind of stuff And so we were putting up chandeliers and stuff in their trees and we were lighting up the backyard and going crazy and at one point You know because we need electricity and the houses are not meant for lots of electricity And so we had to finally bring in a generator
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:to run the coffee because people forget the coffee machines take a lot of work but also like just to bring in for the they had a band that you know the the caterer to run all the ovens there was all kinds of stuff and then partway through the whole thing the dad goes he looks at me he goes this was the worst effing idea I my daughter ever came up he goes he goes he he just like we were like because
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Kevin Dennis (:A lot of times too when you're doing backyard weddings, you can't just show up on the day of and make these things go. They usually installs on these. Yeah, you're there. You know, there's layers to it. You know, like I had to come in early to get all this stuff up so then the rental people can come in and you know, there's only one driveway. It's not like a loading dock in a hotel and there's all kinds of these other.
Elena Markwood (:Right. It's a multiple day. Yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:Logistics and the dad, know that we he was like only like in day one and a half of everyone loading stuff into his house And he's like this is the worst effing idea He was like I'm like I go just keep thinking you're gonna have a great party and then I saw him the day You know after the wedding we came back to kind of get stuff and he's like we had a great party But now look at my house. It's trashed. It's gonna take me weeks. He just he kept focusing on like
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:I should have I should have not been a he called himself a tight ass. He goes I should not have been a tight ass and I should have had the wedding at a venue and done it the right way. I go he was but in the end we had a beautiful wedding which I will say it's one of the nicest backyard weddings we've ever done and I think that's part of it too is like to the level of you know planning that they went into this that it was crazy. So anyway, I'm sorry. I went on a little tangent about backyard weddings because everyone comes up we're going to do in the backyard and it's going to be way easier and cheaper now.
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Sure.
Mm-hmm.
Right, no. Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:Where are you going to park the cars? are you? Like you said, the kitchen, the
food, there's so much stuff that goes into it. So anyway, so how can couples, you know, going into this decide what type of service is best for them?
Elena Markwood (:Right, absolutely.
So I think the first thing to think about is just that conversation with the venue to understand exactly how much support is coming from the venue. So you then know what areas do I need to seek support in. And this is assuming that it's not like a full service planning client. We kind of chatted about if it's a higher level of design, if there's a ton of rentals involved, those are the cases where you really see.
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
Elena Markwood (:the clients want the full service planning and design. So thinking more the couple that's booking the ready-made venue that includes the tables and chairs and linens and all the things. So I think first just determining what is your venue gonna do for you? And if it turns out that it is a venue that their in-house coordinator is gonna cover.
know, processional, recessional, decor, timeline, all of those things, then maybe it doesn't make a ton of sense to hire an outside coordinator. ⁓ But if you come out of that conversation with the venue feeling like, there's so much more to running this day that we didn't realize, because again, most couples are doing this for the first time.
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:So you really don't know what you don't know as a couple getting married for the first time. As cliche as that sounds, it is so true. I've even I've looked back at some of the email interactions that I had with my venue contact at the venue where my husband and I were supposed to get married, where we had our anniversary reception and just looking at the questions that I asked her again, I wasn't in the wedding industry yet at this time. I was like, my gosh, I was every bride I've ever worked with.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah,
Hahaha
Elena Markwood (:Like
I was asking all the same questions that I've been asked multiple times and there's nothing wrong with any of that. There's nothing wrong with this being the first time that they're going through the process. It just makes it all the more important to make sure you understand where all of your support is coming from, who's doing what, how it's getting managed so that on the day of...
Kevin Dennis (:No.
Elena Markwood (:you don't have to stress about it and you can actually enjoy your day and be present with your people and know that everything is covered without worrying about sending people who should be relaxing and enjoying the day with you to cover it.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah,
and that's where I think people really mess up is they you you know you want your family to enjoy the day the celebration with you not be stressed out about having to get all these gifts home or do you know all that you know like have a plan for all that kind of thing all right So all right now. I realize I'm a couple I realize I need to hire You know a planner coordinator like what kind of questions should I be asking?
Elena Markwood (:Right. Yeah, absolutely.
I think certainly what is included in the service package, ⁓ just again, knowing what's included, how is it going to serve them? What can they expect from the vendor on the day of? and also how do they work with different types of venue coordinators? Like how do those venue vendor relationships work? because just with month of coordination contracts, I have seen a
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
Elena Markwood (:wide variety of levels of support from venues and some have been very full service, you know, like the country club where tables, chairs, linens, catering and bar are all included and the only things that they're bringing in are like me, the DJ and the photographer, knowing how is that relationship gonna look.
you know, how many meetings are you willing to have? Are you willing to come to a month out meeting with the couple and the venue to make sure that everyone's on the same page about how the process is going to go? What's the day of going to look like? Who's covering what? Because as, as great as it is to have multiple support people on the day, you just want to be really clear going into it. Like my month of coordinator is covering these tasks. My venue coordinator is covering these tasks.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:so that the venue coordinator and I are not both coming in like, all right, first thing I gotta do is get the linens on the tables, you know, because you don't wanna end up with both of us are putting the linens on the tables, but then no one's setting out the personal decor and getting the signage out and you know, all that kind of stuff. Other questions to ask.
Kevin Dennis (:to.
Elena Markwood (:I don't know. I don't know how else to answer that question.
Kevin Dennis (:I was gonna say I was
gonna say communication like what like I like like cuz I feel like now every like You know, you said you got married five years ago. I got married almost 17 years ago The way I communicate with clients is different So like is that go into it, know, like how are we gonna communicate? Like I just worked with a planner that uses slack channel with her couples and I had it Yeah, I was I was like, yeah, was and she had all of us vendors all on different. It was like the most organized
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Wow.
Kevin Dennis (:It was a lot of work on my side because I'm used to you know, I I'm old I like email, you know personally Yeah, exactly. So but everyone has you know, so going into that I think you know, how how are we gonna communicate is probably It would be a question. I would be asking as well
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Right, and it's definitely a platform to download.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
and that's a big one. Like how many meetings do you allow during the process? Because a lot of couples, lot of vendors will say, you know, my month of coordination package includes two meetings. End of story. I'll usually tell them I don't limit the number of meetings that we have, but
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Elena Markwood (:Usually two to three does it and if we have quicker questions a phone call or an email usually covers it And I've never had a couple that's felt uncomfortable with that Especially if there's like a month out meeting that's required by the venue that they want me to attend
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Elena Markwood (:most of our questions get taken care of at that month out meeting. And then maybe we'll have like a week of touch base where I just make sure like, these are my decor expectations. This is, you know, my finalized timeline. It's been sent out to the vendors. This is our plan for our ceremony rehearsal, just to make sure that they feel really comfortable going into wedding weekend. ⁓ Another question that I get asked a lot is like the length of time that I will work on the wedding day. ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:Mm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, I maybe this is something that I should put a cap on just to protect myself and my contract. But I usually tell them it's it's typically just start to end of venue access for me. Because the sooner the sooner I get in, the more comfortable I'm going to feel about getting everything done. And bored is way better than frazzled on a wedding day. So yeah, that's that's usually what I'll tell them is as soon as we can get into the venue.
Kevin Dennis (:Wow, that's a good.
Yeah.
Elena Markwood (:I'll be there with my assistant starting decor, making sure that everyone's comfortable and happy and pinning boutonniers when moms don't really know how to do it properly so that they don't fall off. ⁓ And just, yeah, they're always like flopping down to the side. Yeah. You know, give mom her photo op pinning it on, but then let me step in and fix it, you know? And also just...
Kevin Dennis (:You always see the limp ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Elena Markwood (:I have my big emergency kit that's with me on wedding days, so I'm ready to like, here's some bobby pins, here's some boutonniere pins, here's some, let's fix that drapey garland with some floral wire. So just having lots of time to problem solve on your feet is really important. That's obviously a huge part of being in the wedding industry.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Elena Markwood (:is just problem solving on your feet and being able to improvise well. And you have to allow yourself some breathing room to be able to do those things and still get everything done that's on your to-do list.
Kevin Dennis (:That sounds like a lot on the day of so. Alright, so it's hard. I think with for couples to compare apples to apples, you know, like is like you know everyone uses different, you know, like vendor manager sales manager terminology, wedding coordinator, you know all this to kind of different things. How does a couple cut through that you know and really kind of understand that they're comparing like OK my my venues providing me this, but that's not what.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:coordinator you can provide you know like how do we cut through all that?
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think it just comes back down to the clarifying questions. Like, I want to understand exactly what your level of support is. What does this mean throughout the course of the process? What does this mean on wedding week? What does this mean for my ceremony rehearsal? What does this mean from start to finish on my wedding day?
Kevin Dennis (:Okay.
Elena Markwood (:and really just asking those questions in all of those vendor meetings, know, like in the meeting with the venue and with any outside coordinators they might be doing consultations with certainly, but honestly with the rest of the vendors too. Because I think we're so entrenched in this world. We're so used to how our roles work.
it we might not always think of the questions that couples might have in terms of like you know photography contracts could be a really good example of that like they'll see seven hours are included in this photography contract you know is that good is that enough do i need extra hours
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
Elena Markwood (:And I think a really candid conversation with the photographer could be helpful there. Like, how much can we realistically cover in this seven hours? Like, does getting getting ready coverage mean that we wouldn't have send off coverage? Just as another example. ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:No, and that I think
that's a good good example because I've worked a lot of weddings where all of a sudden we're having to rush everything, you know, like the wedding is gone from flowing very beautifully to now all of a sudden it's like next next next next next because we're having to get the photographer out of there because someone didn't read that, you know, we have the photographer only for six hours, not seven or eight, you know, like kind of thing where things would have flowed nicely, you know, and I think that's when a coordinator can, you know, our planner can come in and really look at that and.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:I go hey you're missing this hey do you understand by doing this you got you have to do that you know so a lot of that stuff yeah.
Elena Markwood (:Right.
Right, yeah.
And I've had those conversations specifically with couples and photographers too where like I had one in October of this past year where the couple had all of these spots that they wanted to hit before the wedding. Like they did their first look and couple portraits and bridal party at a
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
Elena Markwood (:a really popular park in the suburb of Columbus where I live. And then they went to the coffee shop where they had their first date and took a couple of photos there. And then they went from there to the venue. And it was all roughly in the same area, but it was still a lot of travel. And they wanted like getting ready photos at the separate houses where they were getting ready as well. So just in conversations with the photographer, when I made that initial contact and asked how long the photographer's
was we were able to kind of think about how much time do you know you're you're you're building backwards when you're creating the pre-ceremony timeline like we need this much time for this and then we need 15 minutes of travel time and then 15 you know this much time for this and then 15 minutes of travel time and just determining like we want our photographer for the send-off
and for all of these pre-ceremony moments. ⁓ That conversation led to the couple adding on an extra hour with the photographer because it just wasn't gonna be enough coverage.
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
It's funny I thought of two things I had a couple one time that faked the send-off and everyone left the wedding early because they thought it was early and then Yeah, and then the other thing like you were talking about that couple that went all over the place There's a photographer that I worked with recently that he'll do post wedding like it like an almost like an engagement shoot where they'll go to different spots where it's not stressful on the day of but right, I thought it was a genius when yeah, cuz I was like
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm. Yes, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
That's such a good idea.
Kevin Dennis (:He was a little bit more like relaxed on the day of I'm like, well, you got it easy today He's like, we got a lot of I'm doing a posting gate a post wedding shoot with them and we're gonna bust out a lot of the a lot of that stuff because we'll just have time just me the couple and We're gonna go to some of their favorite spots and you know, and I'm like, that's genius It's almost like like where trust the dress was really popular there. I'm like no like yeah, cuz you know you
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm. That's such a good idea.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:Cause that's what I think the biggest problem is for couples is they go through this and they don't get to enjoy their wedding day. You know, I, I mean, I got married, like I said, almost 17 years ago and my wife was, we went back and she was picking bobby pins out of her hair and I was trying to eat whatever I can find. Cause I was starving. You know, it was the most, you know, it was not a very romantic, you know, wedding night, which, you know, which is a big myth anyway, to begin with. But you know what I'm saying? It's just like, but we didn't get that.
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm, exactly.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Kevin Dennis (:Relax enjoyment of our wedding because we were going 100 miles an hour and I think the more that couples can think about hey, I want to be there in the moment with my family, my friends, you know all these you know, cuz it's that one time that you'll have all these people in the room like yeah, you don't. It really is and I don't think couples really take advantage of that and they they they skimp and skim and I mean the I mean and sometimes it's budgetary, there's sometimes just.
Elena Markwood (:Right.
Exactly. Yeah, it's a literally a once in a lifetime moment.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:the extra little bit of money to make it easy and relaxed. And that's why that photographer when we said that I was like, I think everyone needs to do those post wedding, you know, shoots.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah.
Yeah. And do you know
when they do that, are they like putting their wedding attire back on and doing full hair and makeup and everything? That is brilliant. They could just like skip a couple photos on the wedding day. Like that's so much extra time worked into the timeline.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, yeah, yep, yep. Right, I thought so too.
Uh-huh.
Well, yeah, because most weddings are five, what five or six hours and that includes ceremony. Sometimes if your ceremony is on site, not in a church, you know, like so yeah, you think about it. It's not a lot of time, you know, and the thing too is like I'm a big believer if couples can get in there and enjoy their cocktail hour because most couples don't like if you can get in there and enjoy your cocktail hour, that's a victory for everyone that's involved with your wedding.
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Well, and that saves
you a ton of time during the reception when you feel that obligation to like go visit all the tables. If you've already had a chance to mingle with everybody and let them come up to you during cocktail hour, that opens up so much more time for dancing during the reception, which is usually a huge priority for couples. They're like, that's the memory that I want to have for my wedding is like getting to
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:have a great time with my friends and family on the dance floor. And, you know, like you said, if the wedding is five, six hours, and you've got a ceremony, a cocktail hour, dinner service, then a lot of times dancing can get squeezed down to like an hour and a half or two hours. Once you add in like the special dances, a cake cutting moment, any other reception events that they might be doing, toast, you know, if they, yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:Slideshow I know any of that
stuff. That's what I always say it whatever you add just takes away from dancing You know and that's yeah, and the longer, you know, like I had a dad speech once go almost 30 minutes I was like, well, that's 30 minutes, know, really that's 25 minutes the man should have went You know five minutes is is more than enough to say what you need to say 30 minutes was like he's putting on a seminar and it was Trying to sell us, you know sell us something, you know, like it was way too long
Elena Markwood (:Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Mmm.
Right. Yeah.
Right, yeah.
And at that point, like, nobody's, nobody's enjoying themselves, you know? They're just waiting for it to be over. It's not, it's not candid anymore.
Kevin Dennis (:People were so-
No! No!
No, not cute and funny and quirky and yeah and meaningful. Yeah, you can get that done in in in three to five minutes. You really can but yeah that so that you know they lost 25 minutes of dancing at that wedding but also they lost the momentum in the energy because that's what I think people forget to so when something goes long or something happens. It's like a suck. It sucks the energy out of out of it wedding so yeah alright.
Elena Markwood (:Right.
Yeah, absolutely.
Mm-hmm
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Totally.
Kevin Dennis (:Are there any myths or anything that the couples, you know, hiring a wedding coordinator that they, you know, that are out there that are fit like maybe from, you know, think about the movies or all that that people put out there that are not real.
Elena Markwood (:Well, whenever someone outside of the industry hears that I'm a planner, they're like, like JLo. And I'm sure that there are so many vendors that are used to hearing that. And my answer is kind of, well, no, first of all, not like that movie. I'm not saying I don't love that movie. I love it. But... ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:⁓ how funny.
Haha!
Yeah, it is a good movie.
will agree with you. It is a good movie.
Elena Markwood (:But like, you know, it's just not what the process looks like. You know, do I wear an earpiece on a wedding day? Yes, I do. It makes my life much easier. But it's, I don't know, it's just like the way that they depict the relationship with the couple, and what the planner's role looks like on the wedding day. Like it just it was it was written by screenwriters, you know, it wasn't written by someone in the wedding industry.
Kevin Dennis (:No.
Yeah, well
And even the behind-the-scenes occur at the office and all that kind of stuff and I'm from the Bay Area so actually where that wedding took place is for years we used to do the far side cartoon there used to be a race on Thanksgiving we can call run to the far side and Literally where the ceremony was was where the band would play at the end of the race. So no, no, it always made me laugh I'm like, that's not what that
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
How cool.
Kevin Dennis (:looks like it's really ugly and gross. Yeah, so it's always, yeah, no, it always made me laugh. But that whole, yeah. Yeah, the angle, the whole thing. Yeah, no, it really made me laugh. So anyway, no, that, yeah, it's just not real. And I used to get fronk a lot from Father the Bride. People would go, ⁓ like fronk. And I'm like, no, that's not, we're not crazy like that.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, you have set dressers come on site and then a little bit of editing and post and it looks way cuter.
Yeah.
yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:or eccentric anyway. All right. So anything I always like to ask, because we had a coordinator on one time, anything has anyone asked you to do something crazy or absurd? And I'll tell you what this what I had a coordinator on that the the mother of the bra or the stepmom wanted her to go over and flip off the mother of the bride and say that and say it was from her because there was some family drama. So like, is there anything crazy or
Elena Markwood (:⁓ yep.
Kevin Dennis (:unrealistic ass that people have asked you to do.
Elena Markwood (:I just heard that in Tanya and Lindsay's episode and I was, was chuckling in my car thinking about it. Yeah, so.
Kevin Dennis (:did you? Yes.
I couldn't stop. Cause, well, and
I work with Lindsay all the time, and Lindsay is the sweetest, nicest person. Like, could never in a million years imagine Lindsay walking up to flip off anyone. anyway.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah.
So my wildest wedding story was a couple summers ago. And you know, we were talking about all of the reception events that take away time from the couple getting to enjoy the reception with their friends and family. Mom of the Bride had a slideshow that was a surprise. The couple didn't know about it.
Kevin Dennis (:⁓
lovely.
Elena Markwood (:which
I am so firmly on team, never surprise the bride with anything, whether you think it's a good surprise or not, just don't do it. But she, you know, we did multiple test runs with the technology to make sure that the projector was going to work. Like she cared a lot about this slideshow.
Kevin Dennis (:Nope.
Elena Markwood (:But what we actually hadn't accounted for was that the bride had paid for some extra draping on the ceiling. And once the draping was in, it blocked the path of the built-in projector. So the story just gets wilder and wilder.
We started trying to figure out how are we going to troubleshoot this and you know the the projector that was built in on the ceiling it was like okay we're not going to take down the strapping so what else can we do so we found a tabletop projector in the back and we're like let's see if we can make this work and it was such an old projector
Kevin Dennis (:my God.
No.
Elena Markwood (:that it was like a VGA cable and you know like the DJ didn't have anything that was compatible. We couldn't find any adapters that would work to like you know plug one of our laptops into this projector and try to play it that way. So I was sent to Walmart 10 minutes away to go try and find an adapter and I oh oh it
Kevin Dennis (:yeah, yeah.
They don't probably didn't sell it. I'm gonna guess money.
Elena Markwood (:It gets worse. ⁓ You know, I come in, I'm dressed in my wedding black with sneakers on. And you know, I walk in already panting like, where's the technology section? So I go back there, I find what I need. I buy it, I drive back. I get back to the venue and I open the box and it's empty.
Kevin Dennis (:Okay.
NNNN
Elena Markwood (:The adapter that I bought had been stolen.
So I went back to Walmart. I called Walmart on the way and I was like, hey, I just bought this adapter from you and the box is empty and I really need it right now. So I'm coming back to exchange it. So I go into Walmart. I'm even sweatier than I was before. I find it. I go to the customer service desk. Luckily the exchange was very quick. They didn't give me any trouble with it.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah
Elena Markwood (:I drive back to the venue and we finally get the computer plugged into the projector and just something about the newer laptop technology and the older projector technology, even with the proper adapter, it still couldn't communicate. Yeah. So we felt like the mom of the bride kind of had a little crush on the DJ. So we were trying to make him like the bearer of bad news. So we had him go to her and we were like,
Kevin Dennis (:Didn't work.
Elena Markwood (:We have really tried everything, you know, short of taking down the drapery. I don't think we're gonna be able to make this work. And we're expecting her to go like, gosh, well if it would be that much trouble, but her immediate response was, okay, that's fine. So then, catch us bringing a 20 foot ladder into the reception hall full of people.
Kevin Dennis (:to get the
Elena Markwood (:cutting down
the drapery from the ceiling to play the slideshow. Obviously at this point, the bride knows that there is a surprise that's coming because you just can't hide a 20 foot ladder. And finally, the draping is down, the built-in projector is working, we play the video. It was 15 minutes long.
Kevin Dennis (:my god.
Yeah.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, the guests enjoyed it for about five of those 15 minutes. ⁓ And then again, by the time all of that had happened, know, dancing is just keeping keeps getting pushed later and later and later. So we ended up with about an hour of dancing, which we were so disappointed by because we knew that this was a priority for the bride. And the real kicker
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Yep.
Wow.
Elena Markwood (:was that at the end of the night she was leaving and she's like, thanks guys so much. Like the day was perfect. And we were like, sis, did you see the ladder?
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, and she was happy
Elena Markwood (:So yeah,
she was, mean, she knew when we told her, know, your mom made this video, it's very important to her. That's what's going on here. We're just trying to troubleshoot so we can play this video that's important to your mom. It wasn't a surprise to her that that was the situation given her, you know, she, that was like, yeah, that sounds like something my mom would do. ⁓ So she, luckily she was so chill about it. ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:Okay.
That's
good.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, because if she had not been chill about it, it would have made an already extremely chaotic situation much worse. ⁓ But yeah, that's I have not had anything top that to date and I really hope nothing does.
Kevin Dennis (:Wow.
That's well, yeah, no, you never want that those horror stories of anything that happens But you know we deal with people and people are crazy and things happen. So yeah Yeah All right. I love that. That was actually a really good story and I had a feeling once you got the adapter It wasn't gonna work because they'll do laptops are more powerful than the old ⁓ Than what the old projectors could handle. So I was like ⁓
Elena Markwood (:Exactly, yeah, and unpredictable.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I was like stress
texting my husband the whole night, like, I am gonna have an earful for you when I get home.
Kevin Dennis (:⁓ My god,
I can't only that well and I'm shocked you even found the adapter to be honest with you because I mean like outside of Amazon I'm sure those like I we recently threw away all our adapters that we have like that because we don't even own a projector that has that anymore so anyway Interesting interesting. All right, anything you would love to leave with our clients before before we let you go
Elena Markwood (:Yum. ⁓
Yeah. Right.
I can't think of anything.
Kevin Dennis (:Alright perfect so I'm gonna ask you before before we let you go. What is your favorite part of a wedding?
Elena Markwood (:So I have a couple that come to mind. One is so cliche, but it's sending the bride down the aisle. It always makes my eyes a little sweaty. I think it's just like such a sweet, you know, highly emotional moment for everybody. Usually she's really nervous. ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:Mm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Elena Markwood (:and whether she's walking just with one parent or both parents, like she has this quiet moment with her parents before she goes down the aisle. And just getting to be the one who like gets to share that moment with her and be like, okay, now it's time to go get married and like walking her out and fluffing her train and just setting her down I think is always really sweet and really special. And then yeah, my other favorite moment,
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Yeah.
I can see that.
Elena Markwood (:kind of on the opposite end of the event. Towards the end of the night when bar closes, I always like to make sure that couple and parents get a fresh drink before bar closes, because I never want my main players to be blindsided by bar close. So usually at this point, parents are done. Sometimes dad wants another beer or something. But...
Kevin Dennis (:Mmm.
Elena Markwood (:the couple at this point is usually like in the middle of the dance floor. They're vibing hard with all their friends like they are having the best time. And I don't even want to interrupt them to ask if they want another drink. I'll just usually go to the bar and be like, what are they drinking? Can I have one more before you close? And then
the rapturous look on their faces when I like work my way through the sweaty crowd on the dance floor and I show up with like, you know, it feels like they wanted nothing more than for me to come find them on the dance floor with that extra beer that extra vodka soda or whatever it is. And it just feels like wow, I'm the funnest person here right now.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Yeah, that's right. That's a good
feeling.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah, and just getting to see them like enjoying the day so much is so gratifying and really like obviously wedding work is exhausting. It's taxing but like if it weren't gratifying we wouldn't do it, you know.
Kevin Dennis (:It's I agree there's days where I'm like this is the worst effing job ever why you know like but then but then you're like Then then the next moment you're over there crying in the corner because like yes. Yes. No it Yeah Yeah, I have a really good like growing we kind of were doing a film festival here locally and The person that was running it was friend. It was a friend of mine
Elena Markwood (:Hahaha
Yes! Like how lucky am I to get to witness these moments in someone's life, you know?
Kevin Dennis (:And he, you know, made movies. so, you know, when they did movies, you know, they get 10, 15, 20 tries to make it right. And so he would him and I would always get into it because I'm like, let's go moving on. Like, we're going to go set the next venue because we do them at all these different wineries. And he's he would get all like flustered. I'm like, dude, we have one shot to get this right. Let's go. And he's like, you wedding people are better than us movie people. I'm like, yeah, we really are because we only we don't get to do take.
Elena Markwood (:Mm-hmm.
Kevin Dennis (:Let's do it again. Let's do it from this different angle. We get one shot and if we don't make that Yeah, could you imagine? Hey? Dad you were really bad. We're gonna take two and do your toasting. It just it just Yeah Yeah, it just doesn't happen. So anyway, alright, so how can our listeners get a hold of you?
Elena Markwood (:If only we could.
Yeah, cut it way down. Cut it way down for us this time.
Yes, so my website is adorationweddings.com. My Instagram is at adorationweddings. Both great ways to reach out to me. There's a pretty nifty contact form on the website. And yeah, I'm based in Columbus, Ohio, but I'll travel anywhere.
Kevin Dennis (:I love that. All right. And we'll have all her information on the show notes and she'll we can't thank you enough for being with us today. And folks, thank you for coming to another episode. Now that I'm engaged, how do I get married? Minus August. We did it without her. I knew I could do it. All right. Thank you so much. All right. Bye, everyone.
Elena Markwood (:Yeah.
Thank you.
